Squatting in the 1970s & 1980s (41 images)

The squatting and short-life housing movement in London took off in the late 1960s, and over the subsequent three decades grew rapidly, until cash-strapped local authorities started selling off their stocks of empty and semi-derelict properties awaiting repair. Changes in the law, culminating much later in the draconian 2012 Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act, which criminalised squatting in residential properties, also contributed to the decline. But it was good while it...more »

The squatting and short-life housing movement in London took off in the late 1960s, and over the subsequent three decades grew rapidly, until cash-strapped local authorities started selling off their stocks of empty and semi-derelict properties awaiting repair. Changes in the law, culminating much later in the draconian 2012 Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act, which criminalised squatting in residential properties, also contributed to the decline. But it was good while it lasted, allowing a diverse mix of people in housing need to create spaces in which they could experiment with new identities and collective living.« less